Grace's life is threatened
by Goshstorywriter
Summary: This occurs early on in Grace's time at TR, she has been working there for a month, and although there is some chemistry between Grace and Josh they have not yet kissed.


Grace's life is threatened and it makes her think about her relationship with Josh which is still only a working relationship.

Grace has been in TR for about a month now, she's having a great time, she loves the adrenaline rush of the job when there's action. She enjoys the camaraderie and the physical regime - she's getting fitter; jogging, weights, cycling... Life seems pretty dull on her days off and she's been frustrated with Connor's carefulness, contrasted against the alpha-males at work, he suddenly comes across as dull. Connor is aware of this, or at least, he has an inkling of it and it scares him.

He can only hope that she'll get it out of her system and move on. He'd really like her to fall pregnant and forget all about this job but it hasn't happened which is starting to worry him. She **was** interested before, she'd said she wanted to be a mum, he thought that they'd been trying seriously to make it happen.... Since this TR job came along, well, it's no longer a priority and they don't talk about it anymore. He assumes that she must have gone back on the pill.

Grace and Josh have a good working relationship, they're good mates now. There's still the occasional cheeky smile or raised eyebrows between them but Grace doesn't take it too seriously, it doesn't occur to her that Stella does **not** get the same cheeky smile from Josh. Of course Grace knows that there's chemistry there but she doesn't expect that anything will happen - they have a professional relationship. ( She's in denial big-time ! )

Josh isn't finding it as easy, he has no-one else to take his mind off Grace and he looks forward to seeing her at work each day. It's a daily struggle to keep his eyes off her and certainly to NOT touch or bump into her again.

One day, they are called out to search a house, to investigate reports of gunshots. Carefully they approach the house with guns drawn. There are a lot of buildings to search including sheds, so they split up, Josh and Grace take the house, Lawson and Stella out the back. Josh knocks down the front door and they walk through the house room by room. As Josh is investigating the front room, Grace continues down the corridor. She walks into another room where a large man knocks the gun out of her hand and grabs her around the shoulders.  
The man yells angrily in Josh's direction; " get outta here !" whilst still holding Grace. He has a gun and he has pointed it at her head. Josh comes running with his gun drawn.

Grace is terrified and suddenly helpless, all her training gone out the window with this gun centimetres from her face. This hasn't happened to her before.

Josh is now pointing his gun at the man and also yelling "let her go !" ( think Josh in ep 8 when Stella has guns pointed at her in the backyard ). There is a tense standoff.

Lawson now also arrives, his gun drawn; "let her go, you've got no way out". Lawson's voice is calmer than Josh's angry tone. The man is sizing up his options....still holding Grace tightly around the shoulders, her arms pinned down by his grip. Grace is looking at Josh, her eyes are wide and frightened, her look is killing Josh , he knows he's too emotionally involved in this, he needs cool, calm Lawson to figure it out. The man is standing behind Grace, breathing down her neck, he stinks. She tries to move a bit, to regain her balance and he slips, the gun goes off right near her head, but it misses her.

Both Josh and Lawson assume that she's been shot and Lawson fires at the gunman, who drops his gun and falls back against the wall. Grace also falls down, but she's not hurt although she thinks she has been shot and she's in shock with a loud ringing in her ear. Josh runs over to her; "Grace ! Grace !". He can't believe that she's alive; "are you hurt ?". He puts his arms around her to support her but she's a blubbering mess and she clings tightly to him, sobbing; "am I ok ?". Josh returns her tight embrace, he doesn't want to let her go, he knows it won't last long. He's been trying so hard to avoid a situation where they might touch but now that it has happened he'd do anything to prolong it.

Lawson has been busy checking the gunman out and radio-ing for an ambulance. Stella has now walked in . She notices Josh hugging Grace but she has no idea what just happened, she can see that Lawson has his hands full with the gunman so she goes to help him. Stella to Lawson; "what happened ?".  
Lawson; "Grace had a gun to her head, it missed, I thought she'd been shot so I took him out.."  
Stella to Josh; "is she ok ?"  
Josh nods.  
Grace has calmed down enough to loosen her grip on Josh, to realise that Stella is giving her looks. Josh finally lets go of her reluctantly. She sits on the floor with her hand over her mouth. She feels like throwing up, how embarrassing ! Josh is kneeling in front of her, looking concerned, watching her closely.  
Josh; "you never had a gun to your head before ?" ( sounding casual like it has happened to him a million times when in fact it hasn't ! ).  
Grace shakes her head.  
Josh pats her on the shoulder, says; "you'll be fine" and then he reaches out with his hand and helps her to stand up.

When Josh is lying in bed that night, all he can think of is the feeling of holding her tightly in his arms, the way she grabbed hold of him, it's been a long time since a girl held him like that.....

When Grace gets into bed Connor tries to initiate some "baby making" but she rejects him, "not tonight Connor, I'm tired and stressed... I nearly got shot today..."  
Connor; "what ? how nearly ?"  
Grace; " he missed...."  
Connor; " you serious ? the gun went off ?"  
Grace; "yep" She doesn't tell him how she reacted, nor how close the gun was. He gives her a hug.  
Connor: "hey baby, its OK...." but it's not the same kind of reassuring hug that she had earlier today.


End file.
